The Children of Time
by AudeliaMarlowe
Summary: As promised on Tumblr, here's the beginning to the Alfie Owens  from Closing Time  and Anwen Williams  from Torchwood  story that will later feature Melody Pond. I'll try to make it fit with canon as best as I can!
1. Chapter 1

"Your first day at boarding school... let me look at you." Craig beamed at his son over the Skype connection.

"Dad!" Alfie pulled at his tie uncomfortably.

"What is it, Stormy?"

"Can you quit calling me that!"

"Sorry. Reflex. Anyway, you're all moved in? Ready to go?"

"Yes, dad. First thing, science class. Now, I've got to go."

"Alright. We love you, Alf. Good luck!"

"Love you too," Alfie mumbled, slamming his laptop shut. His roommate chuckled in the background.

"That's real sweet."

"Shut up, Franklin."

"Whatever, new kid. Let's go to class." Franklin opened the door and led the way across campus.

It wasn't a large class, but there were still too many people around that he didn't know for Alfie to feel comfortable. Across the room, he spotted a girl with wavy brown hair and big eyes who looked just as nervous as him. There was nobody next to her. Alfie pulled away from Franklin and his friends, who were ignoring him, to take the empty seat on the girl's left.

"Hi, I'm Alfie." He stuck out his hand, and when she didn't take it he did an awkward little wave.

"Anwen," she said, startled. "You're the first person I've met who's bothered to look at me."

"I know what you mean. I'm new here."

"Yeah, me too. First day of school, and all that." Anwen finally smiled.

"Where are you from? You sound Welsh..."

"I'm from Cardiff, and yes, I know that's a bit far away from Battle. But it's a good school, and my uncle kept saying how I needed to go here."

"I didn't mean it like that, really. Just asking. I'm from south London."

"Nice." She started to say something else, but then class began.

After class, they'd smiled at each other and just sort of left. But Alfie couldn't stop thinking about the girl with the big eyes. She knew something. She was like him, somehow.


	2. Chapter 2

He didn't have to wait very long to see her again. At lunch, he saw her get in the cafeteria line and managed to push his way through the crowd to get in line behind her.

"Hi! Hi Anwen!"

She turned around. "Oh... hi! Alfie, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. I mean we didn't get to talk much earlier and you seemed really nice so I thought I'd come over here and say hi again." He took a breath. "Oh look, macaroni. Sounds good. Well then..."

"You talk a lot."

"Not usually. I mean normally I'm quiet and awkward. Not loud and awkward."

She put her hand on his arm. "It's cute."

Alfie gulped. "Thank you, um..."

"So where do you want to sit? By your roommate and his little friends?" They'd reached the end of the line.

Alfie shot a look towards Franklin and his two best friends, who were busy making spit wads out of paper napkins. "I think we'd better find our own place."

"Sounds good."

They ended up alone at a table in the corner of the dining hall. "Why are we such outcasts already? It's like they can smell fear," Alfie joked.

Anwen took a bite of her apple. "They think they're too smart. Or too cool. The general attitude seems to be that they have enough friends already, and couldn't possibly need more until someone dies. How disgusting. I told Uncle Jack that it was wrong to go so far away for my last three years of school, but my parents wouldn't listen. I even used the 'but I'm going off to university soon enough anyway' excuse and they wouldn't buy it."

"Same here, pretty much. My dad wants me to be really successful, or something, and this place is supposed to help. Really prestigious. He and my mum are always going on about how I could save the world if I tried. They want me to become a doctor."

"Oof. Pressure," she said with a laugh.

"Definitely. At least this way I don't have them on my back all the time."

Yeah, but it's weird being away from home, though."

"I know, but I like it," he admitted.

"I can't tell if I like it or not yet. Mostly it's just lonely, so far. That's why I'm glad I met you."

He blushed and hoped she didn't notice, but knew that she would. "Thanks for the compliment. But, um, how's your roommate."

"Don't have one," she said, taking another bite.

"Lucky! How'd you manage that?"

"No idea! I moved in, all ready for her any moment, but she never showed up. She didn't tell the school anything, either."

"Must have slipped through a crack somewhere."

"Mmm hmm. But, anyway, I'm all alone. It's whatever, I'll find friends."

They smiled at each other again, and there was that look in her eyes that he'd glimpsed earlier. Anwen knew something that the others didn't. There was something ingrained in her from a young age, just like him. He paused.

"Anwen?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"Of course." Anwen Williams, the girl who survived. He didn't know yet how important she would be.


	3. Chapter 3

Anwen and Alfie started spending more and more time together. They had 3 classes together, and most of their free time was spent laughing about little inside jokes no one else would understand.

"Did you know, my birthday is a week and a half from today?" she said to him one afternoon, after classes were over.

"No, I didn't! Why haven't you told me sooner, I'd have planned something really, really big. Now you'll just have to settle for big."

She giggled. "I haven't really thought about it much. My parents can't fly in, they're too busy. Mum's busy with her work. Special police force thing, not too many days off.

"I'm sorry. Really. But I'll make it special for you."

"Thanks."

When Anwen's birthday rolled around, Alfie had plans to take her on a real date at a restaurant in town. His plans were slightly derailed, however, by the unexpected arrival of someone close to Anwen.

"Anwen Williams! Happy birthday!" boomed Captain Jack Harkness, standing in the doorway of Anwen's dorm.

"Uncle Jack! What are you doing here!" Anwen leaped up from her bed, where she'd been sitting with Alfie eating a packet of crisps while he tried to work up the nerve to tell her about the date.

"Well, I was just passing through..."

"Oh, no you weren't. I know you, you came looking for me!"

"Well I couldn't miss your birthday. Not little Anwen's sweet sixteen."

"I'm so happy to see you! Really!"

"I brought you something."

"What is it?"

"Open the box," he said, pulling a small box out of a pocket in his big, old coat.

"It's a... wristband watch thing... thanks uncle Jack."

He laughed. "It's a vortex manipulator. Like mine, only it can travel. Don't ask me how I got it for you! But it's time you have one, Anwen Williams."

Alfie got up from the bed. "Wait, vortex manipulator? Travel? What are you talking about?"

Jack laughed again. "Anwen, will you please tell your boyfriend to calm down?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" she protested, as Alfie blushed.

"Whatever. Anyway, this little wristband allows you to travel in time and space. And do a lot of other things, but mainly travel in time and space. It's pretty handy."

"Quit lying!" Anwen couldn't believe her crazy 'uncle.'

"Believe it! In fact, I had an idea for dinner."

There go my plans, thought Alfie.

"Hey Anwen's boyfriend, come over here and grab her shoulder. Like that. Okay, ready? Let's go!"

And they vanished in a flash of light.


	4. Chapter 4

"Where the hell are we?"

"WHAT was that?"

Alfie and Anwen were predictably shocked at the new vortex manipulator's transportation abilities, but Jack just laughed.

"How about Italian food for dinner? Come on, I know just the place," he said, as he started walking.

"Hey you! Jack! Tell us what's going on!" Alfie ran after the man as he weaved his way through narrow streets.

Jack turned around. "It's simple. You've traveled in time and space. Not too far in either way, since this is still earth and it's only about 1980 right now. But still... how does it feel?"

"You're lying. Uncle Jack, tell us you're lying!" Anwen squealed.

"It's the truth! Now how about some dinner?" Jack smiled and gestured towards the little restaurant behind him.

Speechless, Anwen and Alfie followed his lead.

"Hi there, Antonio!"

"Jack! What a nice surprise!" The restaurant's owner waved happily at Jack, then made his way over to their table. "How are you doing today? I see you've brought some friends with you."

"Yes, this is Anwen, and it's her birthday. She's like a niece to me. And this is her boyfriend, Alfie."

"I'm NOT her boyfriend," Alfie protested.

"Young love!" Antonio beamed. "What can I get for you today?"

Jack looked around the table as his young friends shrugged. "The usual, times three."

"Sounds good. It'll be right out."

"Uncle Jack, do you know EVERYBODY on the planet?" Anwen asked, only half joking, once Antonio had left.

"Not everybody, but most of them. And a good number on other planets, too." Jack smirked.

"You're lying!" Alfie was mad. "I don't know how you did that trick with the wristband thing, but this is ridiculous and you need to stop."

"Oh Alfie. You need to relax. After dinner I'll prove it to you."

And that's just what he did. Once the three of them were full of delicious food, Jack paid a still-smiling Antonio and led Anwen and Alfie a bit farther down the street and into an alleyway.

"Okay, everybody grab on again. I'm taking you a little farther this time."

With only a little protesting, Alfie grabbed onto Anwen again, as they were once again blasted through time and space.

When the world materialized once again, they saw only dark metal corridors.

"Uncle Jack? What did you do?"

"Don't worry, Anwen. I have friends here too. We're on a space station, far in the future now. Take a look out that window, and you should believe me."

Cautiously, the two young ones walked down the hallway and turned to see the view from a large window. And there it was. Planet Earth.


End file.
